Intel Hedging Bets with 130 New Windows and Android Tablets

The days of “Wintel” ended a while ago when Windows lost its dominance in the computing landscape. Now, having desktop market share is nice – but there’s a lot of money to be made in mobile, not to mention the slow sales of traditional PCs like desktops and laptops. As a result, Intel is playing a catch up game with ARM processors and working hard to get as many smartphones and tablets running on their chips as possible. So it’s not surprising to see Intel President Renee James announce 130 new Android and Windows tablets will be running with Intel processors this year.

Intel is hedging its bets by ensuring its processors ship in as many devices, running as many platforms as possible and this isn’t their only announcement recently that supports this theory. Last month Google and Intel held a joint event to announce new Intel-based Chromebooks. So ensuring that tablets are also running on top of their technology, is simply a next logical step for the microprocessor giant. Even more exciting is that over a dozen of the new devices that were announced are actually launching at Computex. It’s great to see Intel continuing to invest in mobile, and to have this type of announcement and work with partners to coordinate corresponding launches, are a sign of the company’s seriousness in this space.

Intel also previewed a new processor that would be made with 14-nanometer manufacturing. The significance of the new processor is that means the circuits on the chips will be only 14 nanometers apart, allowing for more transistors on the chip – which directly correlates with its capability and performance. The more transistors they can fit, the better the chip. Intel President James also detailed her vision for the “Internet of Things” implying her desire for a multitude of smart devices to be running on Intel technology. James went on to describe a hope to “accelerate and deliver the value of a smart, seamlessly connected and integrated world of computing.” Buzz speak aside, what she’s saying is if it needs a processor to run she wants to make sure it is an Intel processor.

Intel went on to describe their newest ultra-thin and lightweight chips, which all seemed based around the aforementioned focus on mobile devices. This strategy of getting into many new smart devices is not surprising, but it is a shift for Intel. For too long the company ignored the Android platform and other mobile trends to their own peril, allowing the ARM architecture to gain a strong foothold over them in this category of technology. But with the coming wearables and the blurring of the lines between traditional computers, tablets, and smartphones, Intel has another shot at getting in the door and they are taking it.